Edukasyon Para Sa Bayan

This chant echoed earlier today, December 13, Thursday, throughout the UPLB campus as the theme and call for this year’s Oblation Run by members of the Alpha Phi Omega, commonly known as the APO Fraternity.

Although people started showing up an hour earlier, the event officially began at 11AM, opened by the organizations Kasama sa UP, Sakbayan and Gabriela Youth through UPLB USC Chair Ynik Ante, gathering people on the perimeter of the Oblation grounds. Fireworks were lit at 12NN and then after, came the running members of APO.

The run, in a formation of two vertical lines, started in front of the NCAS building towards the Humanities building, the two lines crossing each other on the perimeter of the Oblation grounds, then ended on the center of it. Increasing the jostling and hype of the crowd, a few more APO members came running from the CAS basement while the first two lines ran on the perimeters.

Covered only with white cloth on their heads and coal and paint on their bodies, the APO members ran carrying placards which stated, "UP pamantasan ng bayan, hindi lang para sa mayayaman," protesting the university’s being overly profit-oriented.

The event had to be halted by the organizers because police surveillance continually became denser, the people unable to sing UP Naming Mahal which was part of the tradition. The program then ended at 1245NN.